The papier mache works of Niki Price, showing at Kumeu's Signal Gallery, may have a hint of Outrageous Fortune with their stylised clowns and "Divas Downunder", but this is art, says founder and buyer Khadisha Harvey.
After nearly seven years in Swanson and the relocation to Kumeu, Harvey
shows sticking power. Her exhibitions, which range from classic to quirky, are highly respected within the Auckland art and craft scene. She started in 2002, primarily to provide an exhibition venue for potters.
Her friends, established potters, Andrew and Jenny Van Der Putten, were looking for an upmarket gallery to display and sell their work, and Harvey decided to give it a go.
"It was all through friends at first," she says, leading us through the shopfront part of the gallery, with its collection of pig-shaped money boxes and Maori motif wine coasters, to the small but well-lit exhibition gallery behind. "Then I began to get a few emerging artists. It is a chance for them to be exhibited professionally." One success story is Allie Eagle, who works in watercolour with encaustic wax, and started with an exhibition at the Signal Gallery, and there are plenty more on the way.
New collections are opened each month, and are kicked off with a well-watered and attended opening on the Sunday afternoon. A show featuring new works by Alan and Jessica Kestle opens tomorrow at 4pm.
Art
What: The Signal Gallery
Where and when: 505 Highway 16, Kumeu; open 10am-5pm Tuesday-Friday, 10am-4pm weekends
